Upholstery material



DEL ROY F. FOWLER.

UPHOLSTERY MATERIAL.

APPLICATION FILED IuLYza, 1917.

1,332,549. Eamted Mar. 2,1920.

UNTTED sTATEs PATENT oEEIcE.

DEL ROY F. FOWLER, OF MELROSE PARK, PENNSYLVANIA, ASSIGNOR T0 FREDERICK P. WOLL, OF PHILADELPHIA, PENNSYLVANIA.

UPHOLSTERY MATERIAL.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Application tiled July 28, 1917. Serial No. 183,242. i

To all whom/'it may concern Be it known that I, DEL ROY F. FowLEu, a citizen of the United States of America, residing in Melrose Park, in the county of Montgomery and State of Pennsylvania, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Upholstery Material, of which 'the following is a true and exact description, reference being had to the accompanying drawings, which form a part thereof.

The object of my invention is to provide a resilient nonmetallic cushion material which can be manufactured, transported and distributed as an article of manufacture for use by the upholstery trade in the formation of cushion parts, and which possesses certain desirable characteristics facilitating the working up of the material into finished cushion parts improving the quality and durability of suc-h finished parts.-

The various features of novelty which characterize my invention are pointed out with particularity in the claims annexed to and forming a part of this specification. For a better understanding of the invention, however, and the advantages possessed by it, reference should be had to the accompanying drawings and descrip-tive matter, in which I have illustrated and described a preferred embodiment of my invention.

Of the drawings,

l Figure 1 is a transverse section of a. strip of upholstery material;

Fig. 2 is a partial -plan view of the strip shown in Fig. 1;

Fig. 3 is a transverse section of a strip of upholstery material differing in some respects from that shown in Fig. l; and

Fig. 4 is an inverted plan view of the upholstery strip shown in Fig. 3; and

Thestrip of upholstery material shown in Fig. l'is composed of three layers of which one is a web or bat A of curled hair asecond is also a fiber web or bat B, and the third is a sheet C of woven fabric C which may advantageously be cheese cloth. The web or bat B, which is interposed between cloth laye'rs C and the curled hair bat A, will ordinarily be of softer character than the bat A and ,preferably will be formedy of carded fibers of hair or cotton. The soft fiber bat B and the cover sheet C for the latter are secured to the .Web of curled hair by hair loops D which are drawn out of the web A through the cotton batting and cheese cloth and are then carried back into the web A by the well-known interlacing action of the barbed needles of a curled hair interlacing mechanism. The effect of the interlacing action is not only to secure the sheet C and web B to the web of the curled hair A, but to convert the latter from a loose mass of easily separated hairs into a coherent elastic mass of definite form.

In the ordinary mode of manufacturing my improvedv upholstery material contemplated by me the webs of curled hair and uncurled fibers will be drawn from the web forming` mechanisms as formed, into apparatus for laying the two webs and the fabric sheet C together and uniting them by the hair stitches D. The webs as drawn from the web-forming machines will ordinarily be wider than the individual strips of upholstery material to be formed, and after the webs of curled hair and uncurled fiber and the cloth sheet are stitched together, the

composite mass thus formed may be divided by cutting rolls, or other suitable severing devices, into strips of desired width to each of which the cloth sheet will then be applied and united by the interlacing stitches. The interlacing of the curled hair web A may be carried out in two steps in only one of which the. webs A and B and sheet C arek stitched together, but ordinarily a single interlacmg action will be sufficient in forming the article of Fig. 1 to stick the various layers together and to give the curled hair webthe desired elastic coherent character.

The improved upholstery material illustrated in Figs. 1 and 2 possesses distinct practical advantages as compared with the known prior use of curled hair andV cotton in webs loosely laid together. For one thing material of this sort is frequently used in the manufacture of finished cushion parts by being pushed into pocketsor casings of the upholstery covering material. While the interlaced curled hair has sufficient cohereney -to retain its form when thus being pushed into a casing or pocket, there is a marked tendency for the' cotton fibers to roll up thus making ridges or welts in the cushion and destroying the desiredI smoothness and softness of the cushion which it is the function of the cotton to impart. Morepver, even though the cotton and curled hair be put in place with the desired smoothness and evenness` in subsequent use there is a tendency for the cotton to roll u into comparatively tight hard rolls. ese disadvantages are avoided with my'improved upholstery material. The improved material may be put in place atV a single o eration and the cloth fabric C holds the so t cotton or hair layer B snugly against the curled hair web A, and prevents it from rolling up or becoming disarranged `when the material is being worked up into finished cushions. In the actual use of the u holstered article, the cloth forms a protectlve shield for the web B which oiiers substantially less frictional resistance relative to the upholstery covering material proper than would exist between the covering material and the web B if they were in direct contact, thus reducing the tendency for the fibers in the web to roll up. The use of the uncurled fibers of cotton or hair laid on the curled hair web A, not only gives the latter a soft facing, but in ractice makes the finished article more uni orm in thickness than it would be if made of curled hair alone. This is due to the fact that in ordinary practice webs of carded cotton or hair are provided of uniform thickness while webs of curled hair are not. The cloth layer'C revents the finished upholstery material lrom stretching.

Where the improved cushion upholstery material is to be mounted on springs it is desirable to interpose a tough flexible sheet between the curled hair and the springs. This strip may advantageously be formed of material like fiber board which is nitedl to the web of curled hair, as shown in Figs. 3 and 4 by hair stitches or loops D -drawn out of the web of curled hair A land returned to the latter through the iiber board E or like sheet by the barbed interlacing needles. In forming the modified upholstery material illustrated in Figs. 3 and l, the, web of curled hair A will ordinarily be subjected to at least two interlacing operations, one by a set of needles movlng into and out of the web A of curled hair throughl `the web B and cloth sheet C, and the other interposed between the woven sheet and the layer of'curled hair, the two layers and fa ric sheet being vstitched together by hairs drwn from and caught in the curled hair we 2. As a new article of manufacture, a cushion filling consisting of a layer of interlaced curled hair, a sheet of woven material and a second layer of unwovenA carded fibers interposed between the woven sheet and the layer of curled hair, the two layers and fabric sheet being stitched together by# hairs drawn from and caught in the curled hair web.

. 3. As a new article of manufacture, a cushionl filling consisting of a layer of interlaced curled hair, a sheet of woven material and a second layer of unwoven cotton fibers inte between the woven sheet and the layer 0f curled hair, the two layers and fabric sheet being stitched together by, hairs drawn from and caught in the curledti hair web.

4:. As a new article of manufacture, a* cushion filling consisting of a layer of interlaced curled hair, a sheet of woven material and a second layer of unwoven fibers interposed between the woven sheet and the layer of curled hair, the two layers and fabric sheet being stitched together by hairs drawn from and caughtin the curled hair web, and a sheet of material secured to the 'side of the curled hair layer remote from said cloth sheet by stitches of hair drawn from and caught in the curled hair web.

DELRoY F. FowLER.. y

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